Keystream
How it works
We do not sell video files or subscriptions. Media is published encrypted; you buy the tiny decryption keys that unlock each few seconds as you watch.
The idea
A video is cut into short segments (about four seconds each). Every segment is encrypted under its own key. The encrypted files sit on a normal CDN — anyone can download them, and they are worthless without the keys.
What you pay for is those keys: sixteen bytes per segment, delivered over a small control channel after you fund a session. Standard HLS in the browser decrypts and plays; Keystream does not invent a custom video player.
Two paths
Ciphertext (free)
Encrypted HLS segments move like ordinary web video: HTTPS from the CDN today. Other transports (LAN multicast, swarm) can carry the same bytes later. Payment never sits on this path.
Keys (paid)
After you approve a budget once from any BSV wallet, the player buys keys ahead of the playhead. No per-second meter in the UI — you prepaid a balance; unspent returns to the refund address you chose.
A watch session
- Pick a title. The listed price is the full-watch budget for that asset.
- Enter your refund address (Connect wallet, or paste). Leftover funds must return to a wallet you control — not a throwaway key in the browser.
- Pay once. Send the exact amount to the session address (deep link or paste). Mempool is enough; you do not wait for a block confirmation to start.
- Refund is signed first. Before keys stream, the provider countersigns a time-locked refund. That backup is saved on this device (and you can download it).
- Watch. Encrypted segments load from the CDN; paid keys unlock them in order.
- Press Done. Cooperative settle broadcasts the latest payment and returns unspent to your address immediately. If you skip Done, wait for the short time lock, then broadcast the saved refund.
Money: two addresses
Viewer refund
Before you pay, you enter a BSV address from your wallet. Unspent session funds return there when you press Done (or after the time-locked refund if you skip Done).
Creator payout
When someone publishes on this hosted market, they set a payout address. Settlement pays that address — not the publish token. Older demo clips without a payout file still settle to the Keystream operator.
What this is not
- Not a DRM walled garden — ciphertext is public; scarcity is in the keys.
- Not a subscription or account — one wallet payment opens a session.
- Not “unspent returns automatically” with no action — prefer Done; otherwise broadcast after the lock.
- The publish token is only host access for uploading. It is not where money is sent.